A Day at Aquarium

Two weeks ago Spencer and I went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. My college roomie, Beth, works there and she put us up for the night and the next day treated us to a lovely morning at the Aquarium. We got to her home on Tuesday evening and she had a delicious meal waiting for us! Spencer chose this night, of course, to not want to go to sleep, and she finally went to dreamland after 10pm. Then Beth and I enjoyed a yummy apple crisp she'd made from the apples she'd picked herself! What a domestic diva!

Wednesday morning we went to Tots and Tales hear a childrens group, Milkshake, sing and do fun things with all the kiddos. Spencer had such a great time- jumping around, dancing to the music, and sitting in Beth's lap - her new best friend. (See picture below) After that we walked around and saw most of the exhibits, Australia, the jelly fish, and the sharks and stingrays, before heading to the dolphin show. Oh, the dolphins, they are just so cute and human like. (Did you know that they're the only species, other than humans, who have "relations" for purposes other than procreation?) Spencer loved the dolphins, but she wanted to go down to them while they were performing. Of course this wasn't an option, so we had to step out for a for a few minutes while she had a temper tantrum. After she calmed down we went back in (to our front row seats!) and enjoyed the rest of the show.

We did a little more touring after we left the dolphin arena before going to lunch. I wish I had a picture of what happened next- Spencer squeezed out her entire yogurt on her grilled cheese sandwich... and then ate all of it! She never eats all of her food, but I guess that yogurt, cheese and bread combo was just too enticing for her :) When lunch was over we had to say our goodbyes and head back home. Spence was in desperate need of a nap and we had a four hour drive ahead of us. (Which actually turned into a six hour drive because of traffic, detours, and an accident.) I would have written about our delightful whirlwind excursion, but a few days later we were afflicted with H1N1. But I couldn't not write about our trip to the Aquarium and how it's always so great to see and hang out with my roomie. Thank you Beth for a lovely trip and for not getting frazzled when Spencer wouldn't step screaming!

Without further ado, the pictures of our journey to Baltimore.

Tots & Tales

This is where Spencer and I will be tomorrow.

I'm so excited for her! And well, for me too, because we get to spend the night with Bethie! We're driving up to Maryland this afternoon, so hopefully it will be a smooth car ride and she'll sleep most of the way.

Acts of Kindness

Yesterday afternoon I went to the mailbox, as I always do, expecting to find nothing in it but bills. When I opened the door I saw a little red envelope. (And no bills!) I hadn't ordered anything recently, and it's not my birthday, so my first thought was that the Letter Carrier must have put it in the wrong mailbox. But when I took it out, there was my name written in big bold letters.

I was so excited!
Something for me!
That I didn't order for myself!

I had to force myself not to open it until I got back to the house- so I could savor the moment, haha. When I got to my porch I sat down and opened the envelope, reading the card first. It was from my college Roomie, Beth- kind and encouraging words about me going back to school.


Tears immediately began to well up in my eyes as I closed the card. I started to open the little box underneath of it and that's when I saw these perfect, darling earrings.

The Fleur-de-Lis is the flower of my sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma. It's also my favorite symbol/design/motif and I have them all over my house. Bethie was in a different sorority, but she still remembered that after all these years!

Aren't they so cute? When I saw that they were little Fleur-de-Lis earrings, the brimming tears in my eyes came spilling out and I felt so thankful, filled with gratitude. This whole week I'd been feeling unsure about going back to school, nervous that I wasn't as smart as I once was, and thinking that I might have made a mistake about everything. Then the mail came and I read Beth's thoughtful card, saw the sweetest earrings, and I instantly felt her support and encouragement. And did you notice the message on the card holding the earrings? It says:

HOPE_

LIVE IN POSSIBILITY

(How perfect)

I've always been one of those people who has many acquaintances, a lot of casual buddies, some good friends, and just a handful of Real Friends. But I have the BEST Real Friends. They've always been there for me, even when I was unfriendable. They were supportive and never gave up on our friendship. Beth's generous token reminded me of how grateful and lucky I am to have her in my life- how fortunate I am that she's my Real Friend.

Thank you so much Beth, I love, Love, LOVE the earrings, and as you can see, they're already in my ears :)

Some Girl Time

Election night, 2000. Obviously during my more questionable days, haha. 

Yes, I know I have already posted this picture before, but it's one of my favorites of me and Beth. Beth was my college roommate freshman and sophomore year and the only reason it didn't go on longer was she spent a year in Bath, England and then there were some Res. Life issues when she got back.

This weekend Beth came down to Richmond for the Monument 10k, which she ran in a super fast time- 53 minutes! After the race, she and I took my babe for lunch and had a grand old time catching up. Nothing restores my soul like some much needed girl time! I think we started to annoy the waitress at Applebees (try the Oriental Chicken Wrap, it's delish) because we stayed too long.
Here are some more of us throughout the years- a couple are in Portland, Oregon- here hometown- from when I went out to visit her for her birthday.

This was right after I had Spencer and a bunch of my besties from school came down to visit us for the day. Spencer was two weeks old and I was very frazzled!

Trip to Oregon- see the Goonies rock in the background?




At a rodeo in Oregon! And I'm wearing a purple cowboy hat that the three of us collectively share.



This was "Thugged Out" Superbowl. Embarrassing!

Katie and Beth, Circa 2000

This is a picture of me and my freshman roommate, taken during election night 2000. Obviously, this was during my rabid republican days.

The View

The View is my guilty pleasure, I’m not afraid to admit it. However, today’s discussion was so tense I almost had to turn it off. Here it is, watch it, feel uneasy.
On a personal note, I really wish Elisabeth could be a tad more bipartisan. I feel bad for her, but at the same time I think she brings it on herself by refusing to acknowledge the very valid points made by the other co-hosts.